Ben Connelley

Moved to Houston in 1978. Worked in utilities in master planned community. Worked for and retired from City of Deer Park and now work for private sector utility service company. Participated in over 30 community theater projects and have been involved in major theatrical productions at our church. Met and became engaged to a wonderful lady after one of our productions and have been happily married for 30 years. Unfortunately, during the ice storm of 2021, my sweet wife passed away in her sleep. I have achieved the highest certification (Double A) in my field and have recently been certified to teach utility classes by the TWUA and TCEQ.
Highly involved with TWUA and am teaching water utility classes for my company and my fellow utility workers. I was recently contacted by a local Jr. College to teach classes for them at their Richmond campus at night. This came about after my company, in conjunction with this college participated in a Texas Workforce Commission grant for employee training. I had to become a part time Continuing Education Instructor and started doing the night classes after work. I'm having a blast!
My employer was recently (2021) purchased by a larger company that delayed my retirement form 2021 to 2023 to allow me to instruct utility classes and troubleshoot wastewater plants that are not operating properly--two things I really enjoy doing.

Not much to recall as I was in ROTC for my first 2 years, but "discovered" student body life my senior year. During my tenure at AHHS there were two incidents I remember. One was when Rennie Ross suddenly snatched a mouse destined to be a snake's meal and ran into the hall crying. I was touched by her compassion.
Another was in my senior year when we "initiated" a new chemistry teacher, Mrs. Kirkpatrick. We all coordinated distracting Mrs. K to different parts of the room so that we could retreive a fire extinguisher from the hall. Randy Gillespie, I believe was the trigger man on this and when we had her "manuevered" in the right spot, he blasted her legs with the white foam. She was not amused, but the class could hardly keep from LOL.